Every year the population of Lake Victoria orchestrates a Spring Break during which thousands of young people get plastered in the sun. But, according to Alexandre Aja’s film, there are prehistoric piranhas hiding in the deep, ready to tear them apart.
The first to go is a fisherman played by Richard Dreyfuss, channelling Jaws. But the boys and girls refuse to get out of the water, despite the warnings.
Aja treats us to a festival of tit and bum for the first half hour, concentrating on the bikini-clad girls (who include Kelly Brook) with a gimlet eye. Then, having almost forgotten what the film is about, he gets going with the gore.
Pretty limbs are torn rudely off, a girl being carried out of the water splits in two, and Lake Victoria turns blood red with the carnage. There are two young children who get lost but you know they’ll be saved. Otherwise, the heroes seem to be the piranhas.
Piranha 3D
Cert: 18
